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Cooking Mama's celebrity spokes-Mama
With a new TV commercial about to hit the airwaves (in Japan,) we've been able to learn a little more about the "cosplayer" Taito employed in some print advertising. It turns out that she'll be the face of Cooking Mama on TV as well.The actress in question is a Japanese comedienne named Shizuyo Yamasaki, commonly called "Shizu-chan." She's part of a comedy duo called "Nankai Candies" and also played a supporting role in "Hula Girls." We figured she must be a celebrity of some kind and not just the first person who fit in the apron.As for the commercial itself: there are stills at Inside-Games, but no video yet. We pretty much get the idea anyway. Cooking Mama 2 is fun, whether you're a child or Shizuyo Yamasaki.
Last-minute costume ideas for hard workers
GamePro Family has posted a collection of game-inspired Halloween costumes, in case you'd like to dress up, but just haven't had the time to make a costume until today. Of course, you'd need to spend pretty much the rest of the day making some of these, but at least you won't have to go to a party as "Off-Duty Police Officer" or "Alien in a You Suit." If you start right now, you still have time to go be a huge nerd in public!Some of the Nintendo-related suggestions include a Rabbid, Phoenix Wright, and (perhaps easiest) Cooking Mama. Unfortunately, the suggestions don't include suggested methods of costume creation. For something like Cooking Mama, it's obvious (apron, bandana, disapproval), but how do you render Paper Mario in clothing? Maybe sandwich yourself between two large foam/posterboard Mario shapes? [Via Game|Life]
Taito takes Cooking Mama too far
You know, sometimes we just don't get Japanese marketing. Probably most times.The latest one to leave us baffled is this Cooking Mama flyer, put out by Taito to promote the next game in the series. For some unknown reason, the Japanese publisher felt that Cooking Mama 2 would sell more copies with a scary cosplayer representing the game.We hope that Majesco, the game's North American publisher, won't resort to such unsettling tactics here in the States. There's only a 0.01% chance that they would, but we still might have a nightmare or two about it. We think we even prefer "Cheerleader Mama" over this.Go beyond the jump to see another flyer of Mama in her cosplay glory.
Revolutionary: This Revolution Hasn't Been Televised
Every Tuesday, Mike Sylvester brings you REVOLUTIONARY, a look at the wide world of Wii possibilities. Thought of by many as the "Disney of video gaming," Nintendo has crafted themselves an image of family-friendly entertainment. But to certain generations and classes of gamers, the term "family-friendly" is synonymous with "kiddy," and immediately sparks disinterest. But ever since publishing Rare's Killer Instinct, they've been working on broadening the public's perspective. Trying to appeal to the bloodlust of the Mortal Kombat crowd didn't give them any headway, and as generations progressed and they've garnered more "mature-themed" titles, they still haven't been able to shake the "kiddy console" stigma. Even after snagging the exclusivity to the Resident Evil series for a generation, Nintendo was largely overlooked by the Playstation-bred gamers that were brought up on the series. How much more will it take for Wii to be regarded as a platform that can satisfy the tastes of mature gamers?
Cooking Mama 2 hits the table in November
Siliconera reports that everyone's favorite cooking/minigame/paper-doll game, Cooking Mama 2, will be released in the U.S. on November 13-- two days before the Japanese release. Of course that puts it directly in the middle of a frantic holiday game release season, but it also puts it in another special season, one for which we believe it is uniquely suited. We think that Cooking Mama 2 is pretty much the only game that can benefit from a release near Thanksgiving. It's the perfect Thanksgiving-themed game, because it's about food, and eating food is what happens on Thanksgiving. As if that weren't enough, Cooking Mama 2 is all about "Dinner With Friends." Before its release, Majesco will make a deliciously bite-sized Cooking Mama 2 demo available on DS demo kiosks. Feel free to sample it!
Dressing Mama
What's more appropriate for the kitchen than a cheerleader's outfit? Oh, right, anything else. We're not saying that women can't leave the kitchen, by any stretch of the imagination. You can go ahead and delete that half-written comment right now. Put away your Jump to Conclusions Mat. We're of the opinion, however, that a fictional character called "Cooking Mama" whose sole purpose is to scold you when you screw up a recipe probably doesn't have any business holding pompons. We're pretty sure that's a reasonable observation. She's not a real person at all. Rather than being put off by the weirdness of the dress-up capability, we look forward to juxtaposing out-of-place fashion into our cooking minigames. How ridiculous will we be able to make Mama look? Can we put her in a space suit? Other than the random non-cooking activity, Cooking Mama 2 appears to be shaping up quite nicely into another kitchen-based minigame festival. It's one of the winners of the genre, in our opinion, and it's got ice cream this time! Who doesn't like ice cream?
TGS07: Checking out Cooking Mama 2
Over at the TGS booth for Cooking Mama 2, GameSpot got a sneak peek at the cook-em-up title. While engaged in the virtual kitchen, cooking up some dishes with the mama, they prepared a couple of select dishes, including ice cream and pizza. From their impressions, we gather that fans of the first title should be pleased at where the direction of the new game is headed. Also, with the addition of some new recipes, the title should be fresh and inviting to new chefs aspiring to make a name for themselves in the virtual kitchen. Just don't cross mama. She's liable to grab a knife and cut you.
Play Arkanoid DS right now
The websites for Taito's largely retro-tastic DS lineup have all appeared, just in time for TGS. Unfortunately, the text is not going to be of much use to anyone who can't read Japanese (or, as personal experience can attest to, anyone who can only kind of read Japanese). And even if it were, most of the links in the sites are still greyed out, awaiting updates. However, the site for Arkanoid DS contains treasure in the form of a generous five-round Flash demo. We are impressed, both with Taito's largesse and with the actual game. New additions to Arkanoid include a robotic voice that announces the name of every powerup you pick up, and thumping, hypnotic techno music courtesy of Zuntata. We didn't even know Arkanoid needed techno music, but it turns out it totally does. Speaking of thumping techno music, the Space Invaders Extreme site is basically a browser rave-- which works, for us. Here are all the new Taito DS game sites: Arkanoid DS Cooking Mama 2 Exit DS The Legend of Kage 2 Pet Shop Story DS Space Invaders Extreme A demo for Exit DS will be on the game's site soon, but the link is inactive at the moment. May we suggest playing the Arkanoid demo as a way to pass the time? [Via GoNintendo]
Cooking Mama wasn't enough as Majesco profits show loss
Majesco may be bringing forth a sequel to their smash hit Cooking Mama, but apparently it wasn't enough to bring them into the black. Hopefully, that'll change with the upcoming release of Cooking Mama 2, but the Q3 financial results show the company's profits are down to $10 million from $12.4 million last year. The DS is an important platform for the company, as 66% of their total sales come from games on the handheld. And with the first Cooking Mama game selling over 500,000 units, the company has high hopes for its sequel, as well.
Taito goes DS-only at TGS
Taito knows where the money is in the Japanese video game market: the DS. Thus it seems that they've decided to concentrate their development efforts on games for the money-printing handheld. The company released the list of games they'll be displaying at this year's Tokyo Game Show, and every single one is a DS title. Most of the games are things that we already know (and have said "yay") about, but two games are new: the first is Space Invaders Extreme, which, we hope, is either more of an update than Space Invaders Revolution or includes Akkanvader. We also hope it works with the Arkanoid paddle controller. The other is Pet Shop Monogatari DS, which is an RPG about a pet shop. The lineup includes: Cooking Mama 2, Exit DS, Arkanoid DS (and its controller), The Legend of Kage 2, Pet Shop Monogatari DS, and Space Invaders Extreme. All games that we would totally play at TGS ... if we were going. Which we aren't.
Preorder offerings in Korea
Why can't publishers be more charitable with preorder gifts in the states? We're doing them a favor whenever we put down an advance for one of their games, giving retailers an idea of how many they should order to stock their shelves. Japan and Korea seem to get reservation rewards for almost every release! The latest preorder prizes, a branded system pouch and a stylus set, come with EA's SimCity DS and MySims, both due later this month for Korea. Publisher Fujitsu was more creative with its Cooking Mama gift, offering a limited edition pair of cooking mitts to any gamer who reserves the kitchen-themed minigame collection. Hand over five bucks and head past the post break for more photos of the bonus items.
Cooking Mama sequel could bring Majesco back from the brink
Known gaming analyst for Wedbush Morgan Securities, Michael Pachter, recently made comments that the sequel to Cooking Mama could actually help Majesco get out from the red and into the black. Pachter states "Majesco may continue to struggle with its low cash levels, we believe that the company is close to returning to profitability, due to improvements in its sales and cost management." Pachter says that the success of the sequel title will help stabilize Majesco's revenues."We are increasingly positive on the story now that the company has been able to stabilize revenues in the $12 – 13 million quarterly range, and believe that Majesco can be slightly profitable at $65 million in annual revenues." Majesco is due to report its third fiscal quarter earnings later on this month on September 11th.
The evolution of 'Cooking Papa'
When we started working on a post about some new characters in Cooking Mama 2, we saved the image seen to the right of a salaryman called, of course, Papa. When we reloaded the Dengeki page, Papa was no longer pictured in a suit, opting instead for a more casual outfit with khakis. Did we just see game design in action? That's so cool! We aren't sure if Papa will appear as a player guide like Mama does, or if he'll be around at the end of meals for the new judging system, in which people sit down and eat the meals you prepare via minigames. In any case, we can only hope that he cooks as well as Beard Papa.
Cooking Mama 2 gets Japanese date and American dessert
Cooking Mama 2 knows how to attract an audience: with virtually delicious fake pie. Who can look at that picture of an apple pie and resist the urge to pretend to want to eat it? Actually, we've never gotten hungry from playing Cooking Mama. The gameplay tasks are so accelerated and the final images so cartoony that we rarely associate our creations with actual food. It's a good thing too, because we wouldn't know how to cook three-quarters of the menu without a touchscreen. Check out the link if you'd like to see the whole pie-making sequence! SPOILER: Apples are inside the apple pie. It'll be coming out November 15 in Japan, and we expect that since the game is more popular in the US, Office Create and Majesco will do their best to make sure it comes out over here as close to that date as possible.
Now she can afford some truffles
Majesco announced that since the September release of Cooking Mama, they've shipped 500,000 units. Quite a surprise for a budget DS game about cooking! It's exactly what Majesco needed after almost being sunk by Advent Rising and Psychonauts. They decided to focus more on budget games for handheld systems, and they got lucky right out of the gate. Given their success with the last game, it's no shock that Majesco has chosen Cooking Mama 2: Dinner with Friends. We've liked Majesco ever since they started making Sega Genesis 3 systems and selling them for $20. Which, by the way, is another example of small and cheap working well for the company.
Majesco picks up Cooking Mama 2 for US
We knew that Europe and Japan were going to be returning to Mama's kitchen (which is apparently enormous if it accommodates the entirety of both Japan and Europe), and we expected similar announcements for the rest of the world. Majesco is, as expected returning to the table to provide US gamers with a second helping of Cooking Mama, and to provide bloggers more excuses to mix cooking metaphors. The new game, Cooking Mama 2: Dinner with Friends, will contain 80 new recipes and 150 different cooking procedures. It's also got single-card multiplayer and the feature that nobody even knew they wanted: the opportunity to decorate your kitchen and give Mama new clothes. Mama will have to share shelf space with Ubisoft's Imagine Master Chef, part of its Imagine line of cheaply licensed, sloppily-packaged games "for girls." Don't pick up the wrong one by mistake! [Via Siliconera]
Chef Mama stirs up some scans on new sequel
To those who were hoping yesterday for something different from Cooking Mama 2, we hate to break it to you: the sequel looks pretty much the same, just with the added bonus of multiplayer and more content. You'll just have to wait for the eventual Cooking Navi localization for help from your DS in your real kitchen. However, if pleasing Mama by putting together tasty creations made you as happy as it made her, then you're in luck. We're just thrilled to see a sequel coming out for both Nintendo systems instead of jumping ships, like certain franchises. For once, we get to shake our fist at you lucky Europeans on this one ... though we're sure Majesco will probably pick it up again for gamers here in the U.S. Slip past the break to see the scan with the latest.
Mama's cooking up a sequel
505 Games has announced their intentions to bring back the mama, as they get set to publish a sequel to Cooking Mama on both the DS and Wii next year. The new game hopes to satisfy cooks that checked out the first game, offering up new recipes, minigames and more of that adorable mama herself. If you've got a friend that won't shut up about how expensive their kitchen cutlery is (and how great they are at using it), then take them on in a new head-to-head multiplayer mode. Any aspiring cooks looking to take another go at this early next year?
Cooking Mama to bake on the Wii again
If you're one who wants to know how to prepare food, but has no desire to take any sustenance from the real thing after learning how to prepare it, then rejoice as a sequel to Cooking Mama has been announced for the DS and Wii. With lots more recipes, a new multiplayer mode and new minigames, the title looks to provide more of the same. Whether that's a good or bad thing, is up to you. As of right now, the sequel has only been announced for Japan, but we're pretty sure she'll be making the rounds to other regions. [Via Joystiq]
New Cooking Mama out of the oven early next year
If you love slaving over a hot stove, mindlessly chopping things and stirring, stirring, stirring, but hate having any sort of payoff for your labor, have we got great news for you! Cooking Mama is back! Well, it will be back, according to UK publisher 505 Games, at some point early next year. Still only available on Wii and DS, expect the new iteration to have twice as many mini-games and a new multiplayer mode. We don't know that Majesco will once again be bringing the game to America, but the original did a lot of good for the company, so we wouldn't be surprised. Now if you don't mind, we need to stop by Caketown for some supplies.
